Is it just us, or does it seem like consumers are paying a lot of attention to the crazy/unethical/ soulless corporate behaviour of CEO’s, and others at the helm? If only their ads got that much attention. A few decades ago, if you accidentally or deliberately sold your brand’s soul, probably few folks would notice. But today we’re living in a marketing fishbowl. You may not think anyone is looking, but they are. Everything from your supply chain, to labeling, to your salary has the potential to put the ‘screw’ in scrutiny.
There are many ways, big and small, to sell your brand’s soul. Sooner or later, it will seem like a good idea, but it’s going to mess things up. And if you’ve done it already, there are ways you can buy it back.
On an average day, you spend your days trying to build the brand, and sell it any which way you can. You’ve got tactics that have tactics. Data that would fill 5 airplane hangars. There’s a new plan on the horizon, and it looks really good on paper. The rationale is already writing itself in your head. Before you know it, a line extension is born, and it contradicts every single reason people love your brand, and stay loyal.
This blogger, fan, brand-loyal guy says it all:
An avid and loyal BMW enthusiast wrote this in his blog:
‘BMW’s announcement today of the Lime Rock Edition M3 was the final nail in the coffin for me. So why is it so painful? The M brand used to mean something. Really mean something. To me and auto enthusiasts everywhere. I can’t think of a performance division of a company with more creditability than BMW’s motor sport brand back in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
My point is that BMW used to build amazing streetcars to meet the rules of racing and win. Now they choose races with loose rules and bring cars nothing like the one we buy and turn around and sell us models that have nothing to do with racing other than the sticker on the dash.
So back to today’s Lime Rock Edition M3 that BMW just announced. How does this thing even get approved? I can picture the conversation in the marketing department now:
BMW Marketing Guy 1: Guys we really need to leverage our M brand.
Let’s release an M3 with a racetrack associated with it. Yeah like that big one in Germany– Nürburgring or something. But I hear that place is expensive to rent, maybe we should use that track near headquarters here in the US, Lime Rock?
BMW Marketing Guy 2: Yeah!
BMW Marketing Guy 1: Don’t we already sponsor that track? Sweet, lets make a Lime Rock Edition.
BMW Marketing Guy 2: What’s that mean?
BMW Marketing Guy 1: I don’t know but people will think its special.
BMW Marketing Guy 2: Really? Why?
BMW Marketing Guy 1: Well, because we’ll paint it a special color and add all our interior add-ons like the Knight Rider wheel with the flat bottom!
BMW Marketing Guy 2: But shouldn’t it have a significant increase in performance to have a racetrack badge on it?
BMW Marketing Guy 1: No, No, No — the car doesn’t need to be faster or handle better because we named it after a racetrack! Just the opposite. Leave the engine the same and give it one of our handling packages that we already have. Like the competition package, that sounds like it should be on a track car.
(the blogger continues…) BMW’s Motorsport Brand has lost its soul, and will slowly fade into marketing mediocrity. What happens then? I asked a marketing executive at BMW this exact question after he told me BMW was supporting Golf and Yachting. His response was along the line of ‘I don’t know, I won’t be working here when that happens.’
Luxury brands, and other categories, have been diluting their authenticity for years in an effort to cut corners, increase profits, and make shareholders happy. In doing so, they are undermining their emotional connection to the consumer.
New survey reveals the effects of soul-less branding
In a 2013 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index Survey conducted by US-based Brand Keys, President Robert Passikoff noted that in 11 categories including consumer packaged goods as well as cosmetics, the brand value, and emotional connection had decreased or vanished altogether. In Passikoff’s view, this is alarming, but to be expected given the activities of many companies who seem to have ‘ given up their souls’ in search of universal awareness and distribution. Saying ‘this is the first time we’ve seen such consumer reaction, where some major brands were seen as indistinguishable’. There was one category, which retained emotional engagement: luxury brands.
For consumers, bait-and-switch is one of the worst forms of betrayal
Selling your brand’s soul when your DNA is built on a compelling differentiator of transparency is nothing less than a betrayal of trust. ‘Hell hath no fury like a scorned woman’, as some cosmetics companies have found out, when they reneged on their cruelty-free policies, in order to market in China where animal testing is mandatory by law. Social media is fanning the flames of public pressure. As companies have been ‘outed’, awareness has grown exponentially. Currently, 67% of Americans oppose animal testing, 70% of South Koreans support a nation-wide ban on animal testing, as do 81% of Canadians. The EU has led the way and banned beauty products tested on animals outside the European Union.
Ben & Jerry’s ice cream was bought by Unilever in 2000, for $100 million. It was not an entirely friendly acquisition, as one of the founders, Ben Cohen, said, “I think that most of what had been the soul of Ben & Jerry’s is not gonna be around anymore”. He also offers this advice to other social entrepreneurs considering selling to a large organization: “Don’t do it! Stay independent”.
The L’Oreal/Nestle´purchase of The Body Shop in 2006 for £652 million raised more than a few eyebrows. The Roddicks were ethical activists, campaigning against animal testing, vocally protesting ecological issues, and taking clear stands on multinationals. In stark contrast, are the debatable ethics of it’s new owners, who will be challenged to maintain the integrity of a great brand which served as a role model to many.
Products don’t have souls. But brands do.
There’s never been a better time to let your brand’s soul take the lead.
Why? Because there’s a climate of exposure and ‘outing’ of all wrongdoings right now, and by contrast, positive gestures get noticed immediately. Consumers are on a witch-hunt, so be prepared to either be crucified or celebrated. Even a good product can suffer at the hands of a social media uproar over a contradiction of ethics. Look at Lululemon: a high-quality product, despite one fabric faux pas, and recent reports are showing a 60% decline in profits. All because Chip Wilson contradicted the yoga principles his business espouses, and deep-sixed the very soul of his brand, costing him personally $1.7 billion.
Nothing had more soul than that WestJet Christmas Miracle viral video. But did it pay off?
Of course, everyone remembers the Christmas WestJet Miracle that became a viral sensation last year. That was, for most of us the first time WestJet got onto our social radar. But in actual fact, this approach is all part of a calculated and deliberate long-term strategy, which is now paying off.
There are clear, measurable business benefits to leading with soul. Without any call to action on the video itself in the 14 days leading up to Christmas, WestJet saw:
- Site traffic increase by 100%
- Bookings increase by 77%
- Revenues up 86% on the previous year.
Worth noting, the airline saw subscriptions to its YouTube channel rise more than ten-fold from 3,000 to 40,000. In addition, previous video content on the channel, which had until then received just 3 million views, has now been watched well over 4 million times.
A strategy that leads with soul pays off short-term and long-term
A simple WestJet April Fool’s YouTube video in 2012 generated $1.6 million in additional revenue and about 6,000 new bookings. They are building a loyal customer base, which will follow them around the world, literally. WestJet’s expansion into Europe takes off this month with the carrier’s inaugural flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The Calgary-based airline will fly between St. John’s, Newfoundland and Dublin, Ireland. Already, the company says 80 per cent of the seats are sold. “It’s the most successful service from the point of announcement to the point of launch in WestJet’s history. So things obviously look promising for future expansion,” said spokesperson Robert Palmer.
Feed people’s soul and feed yourself
A recent brilliant retail idea from IKEA in Singapore merges brand and soul, and brings customers into a warm, fuzzy in-store experience. A collaboration between DDB Singapore, IKEA, Save our Dogs, and Animal Lovers League, the campaign placed life-size cardboard cut-outs of real shelter dogs beside IKEA couches, chairs, kitchen tables and everywhere a dog might beautify your home. A QR code empowered anyone interested to scan the cardboard ‘dog’ and get information on how to adopt a real, live, furry, grateful shelter dog.
People are hungry for inspiration. And when it comes from an unexpected place, it’s even more powerful. Believe in your brand’s soul. Believe that it has one. It can be bought back and put to work growing your business.